The chatterbox in me

I’m so full. Why? I’ve just stuffed on my effort. 2 loaves of densed bread which took me the whole day to bake. It’s also the reason I went to the local Tesco for yeasts and flour. Surprisingly, no yeast could be found there, no yeasts in a hypermarket? How could it be. Actually it’s not only in Tesco, I couldn’t find it in Billion and Giant as well. Finally, I got it at the grocery.

Hmm..? This bread seemed not a basic bread. I did not realize it required 2 eggs and luckily the grocery was open again this morning, Sunday morning that is.

So, with the piggies still in bed, I started my labour. Getting my hand dirty kneading the sticky dough, stickier then anything I’ve touched. That was a total mess. Imagine having both hands with sticky,slimy dough and getting anything to scrap it off will only mess more.

In the end , I still don’t really know what went wrong. Did I overproof? No. I waited till it doubled it size and punched it down as required. Did I not wait long enough for the second proofing? Maybe. But how if I overproofed and the gluten breaks? But I did follow the timing, and even extended a bit. Did I preheat the oven? Yes. Right temp.? Yes.

Results, hard crust on the outer layer which I desire, but kinda densed inside. Soft? Still ok. Just the dense texture is frustrating. It didn’t sound hollow when it’s cooked. Sounded ‘thub’, ‘thub’. At that moment, I already sensed failure. It’s not the first time, my bread came out densed. Could it be bakers outside used a higher quality flour, the so called hard wheat flour? One which forms strong gluten for optimum proofing? Or could it be due to lousy recipes? Or it’s just the not so pro me? heheh…

Alright, nobody can bake perfect with just a few trials. Practice makes perfect, right? OK, I’m gonna be my own product developer here. Maybe I should try with some adjustments and observe the results. That’s something to look forward to for another baking adventure.

As for now, is anyone out there interested to try my bread? Absolutely FOC. I don’t normally offer. Please don’t miss this great opportunity.

Come on, break me free from feeding on bread for the coming few days, densed bread that is. SOB….

Set off to Tanjung Malim in the wee hours on Saturday morning. If one were to know me well, I would consider it a crazy idea to get to another place 100 km away just for an activity starting at 8am and return. Of course this time it interested me enough to get my ass off bed at 5am on Sat and thank God , I had a companion cum driver.

So, what’s the fuss? KAYAKING!!! Joined UPSI students to kayak at Sg. Marak just at the oppo village of this uni.

Kayaking…Let me make a flashback…Yup, a small lorry took us there (ppl plus kayaks, etc. for 24). This place we entered was nice, but the thrash left here and there was disappointing. Was a sad scene.

“Have you seen guys in skirts?” asked Jaep. “Yea, when they’re in sarongs and yea, in fact I’ve seen Prince Charles in skirt” I thought to myself. Apparently, this water resistant skirt like thingie is used to seal the opening of the kayak.  When one comes out from his kayak, guess what, it’s not just for a soak in the water…….but to p-e-e.

“Kayaking, nothing difficult. You paddle and it’ll move at your will. You stop the current sweep you away. As easy as that;” I thought before I came. We started with a lil’ upward paddle. Immediately after I launched, I was with the current instead. I paddled and paddled, however, my kayak was obviously reversing and reversing, continued kayaking, this time with extra power, but only enough to slow the reverse. As I looked up, the rest of the group were in front of me, 10 m plus away and the gap is slowly widening!  All except my companion aka sis is somewhere nearby battling the current as well. Lucky us, saved by good Samaritans. Cik Jaep (that’s what I heard his students calling him) and group members came to our rescue.

Along the river, I could smell durians. In fact, a few of my kayak mates picked one right beside the back and ate on the kayak. Wahliau…! There were also rambutan and mangoesteen on the ground to be seen around.

Though going down stream was much easier, the kayak tended to go side ways. Many times, I went straight to the riverbank if not to the outgrown branches. Later I noticed that kayaking actually involves some hip power. “

Cuba

enjut,” one advised me when my kayak got stuck within the rocks. Subsequently, I tried it out when maneouvering downstream. It did help a bit aside from some of the round the clock rotation before turning back to my initial direction.

Going downstream with the swift current was super scary. The kayak would appear to fly instead of slide down if one were to make a wrong route down. Paddle left, paddle right left , right, left , right… aik why still go left, go..go right..!!!! Paddle left, left, left. CHECK POINT! *heaving a deep sigh of relief* tired arms.

And good news, I am still feeling the tightening of my arm muscles. Great!

RM 150 for 30 mins. “I’ll make sure I enjoy it.” I took one all by myself and after some simple guidance, I was speeding across the deep blue sea. The water beneath was so dark and I didn’t want to think how far the bottom was from me. “What’s living/ swimming underneath? Could there be any dangerous species swimming around down there preying on me???? Ok, as long as I keep my feet away from the water I should be save. As long as I keep my jet ski accelerating, I should be safe. And I’m pretty sure there’re no sharks around here off KK but at Sipadan.

Accelerating on a jet ski all by myself, I felt like a fish swimming freely underneath. The difference is that I’m far faster. I stood up, and pressed on the accelerator. The wind blew at my face and hair. The waves underneath made the ride bouncy. I was going fast, so fast and a quick swerve got me wet. Thrilling, I tried again and again and again. I tried to ski parallel with the waves to reduce the bounce. The sun was burning into my skin but this time not as disturbing as it has always been to me.